The Life of Riley (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and I Got A Million of 'Em (Poetry Monday)

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Abigail demonstrates living the life of Riley, cat style.  The only moving she did while i was there cleaning was turn over on her favorite paper bag.

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Sparks is the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, who wanted us to post something positive and uplifting at the start of the week.  While she no longer blogs, i like to post an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.     

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey is on a blog semi-break and her poetry is sorely missed, we hope she comes back soon.   Charlotte/Mother Owl participates, and now Karen at Baking in a Tornado is jumping in at least once a month, too.  Anyone else is welcome to join in the fun, just let Diane know!

This week the theme is Old Jokes.                         

Old jokes are the best jokes,

they get you every time,

and i get to tell my favorites

right here and now in rhyme.

Sauntering down Main Street

one beautiful sunny day,

I passed by Mr. Jones

a-going the other way.

"Mr. Jones, where are you going

with that case of tawny port?"

Replied our Mr. Jones,

"I'm taking my case to court!"

Sauntering down Main Street

one beautiful sunny day,

I once again passed Mr. Jones

a-going the other way.

"Mr. Jones, where are you going

with that very, very tall ladder?"

"I'm taking my case to a higher court,

let them decide the matter!"

Sauntering down Main Street

one beautiful sunny day,

there again was Mr. Jones

a-going the other way.

"Mr. Jones, why do you carry an

empty hanger down this route?"

A very sad Mr. Jones replied,

"Because I lost my suit!"

Old jokes are the best jokes,

at least they are to me,

they are like my familiar friends,

so i've shared a favorite three.

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Today is:

Act Like A Caveman Day -- internet generated, just to be fun, especially if your neighbors think you are crazy anyway

Bayreuther Festspiele -- Bayreuth, Germany (Wagner festival, through Aug. 28)

Be Adamant About Something Day -- it's good practice

Commonwealth Constitution Day -- Puerto Rico

Culinarian's Day -- another one here because of the internet, but a good excuse to let your inner chef go wild, and enjoy the results

Ebernoe Horn Fair -- Sussex, England (ancient horn fairs were pagan fertility rites, now just a fun time for all)

Eve of the Hathor Festival -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of the Knee-Knockers -- Fairy Calendar

Furrinalia -- Ancient Etruscan Calendar (Furrina, goddess of the sacred grove and spring on Janniculum hill)

      also Ancient Roman Calendar (to honor those who searched for underground water sources)

Guanacaste Day -- Costa Rica

Guayaquil Day -- Guayaquil, Ecuador

Hurricane Supplication Day -- US Virgin Islands (churches hold special services to pray against hurricanes hitting the islands this season)

Ilyap'a -- Ancient Inca Calendar (festival of the lightning god; date approximate)

National Hot Fudge Sundae Day

Republic Day -- Tunisia

Soma-Nomaoi -- Haramachi City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (wild horse chase which recreates a battle from over 1,000 years ago; through Monday)

St. Christopher's Day (Patron of archers, automobile drivers/motorists, bachelors, boatmen, bookbinders, busdrivers, cab drivers,epileptics, fruit dealers, fullers, gardeners, lorry drivers, mariners, market carriers, porters, sailors, taxi drivers, transportation/transporation workers, travellers, truck drivers/truckers, watermen; Baden, Germany; Barga, Italy; Brunswick, Germany; Fubine, Italy; Havana, Cuba; Mecklenburg, Germany; Rab, Croatia, St. Christopher's Island; Saint Kitts; Toses, Girona, Calalonia, Spain ;for a holy death; against bad dreams, epilepsy, floods, hailstorms, lightning, pestilence, storms, sudden death, toothache)

St. James' Day (The Apostle, brother of St. John and son of Zebedee, the first Apostle martyred; Patron of apothecaries/druggists/pharmacists, arthritis sufferers, blacksmiths, equestrians and horsemen, furriers, knights, laborers, pilgrims, soldiers, tanners, veterinarians; Altopascio, Lucca, Italy; Antigua, Guatemala; Bangued, Philippines; Brentino Belluno, Italy; Caltagirone, Italy; Cassine, Italy; Chile; Cicala, Catanzaro, Italy; Comitini, Italy; Compostela, Spain; Galicia, Spain; Gavi, Italy; Guatemala; Hettstedt, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; Jemez Indian Pueblo; Loiza, Puerto Rico; Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Montreal, Canada; Nicaragua; Pistoia, Italy; Rivarolo Canavese, Italy; Sahuayo, Mexico; Seattle, Washington; Spain; Tesuque Indian Pueblo; against arthritis and rheumatism; sometimes called Jacob, the Latinized version of his name, also Iago and Jaques in Romance languages) related observances

     Dia Nacional de Galicia -- Galicia, Spain (National Day of Galicia, a/k/a Apostole Santiago, St. James the Apostle's Day)

     The Pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela -- Galicia, Spain (one of the world's largest pilgrimages still, to the church that has the supposed relics of St. James, culminates on the Saint's feast day)

     Loiza Aldea Fiesta -- Puerto Rico

Video Games Day -- yet another one, this on the founding of the "U.S. National Video Game Team" 

Birthdays Today

James Lafferty, 1985

Brad Renfro, 1982

Louise Brown, 1978

Matt LeBlanc, 1967

Illeana Douglas, 1965

Iman, 1965

Walter Payton, 1954

Nathaniel "Nate" Thurmond, 1941

Barbara Harris, 1935

Midge Decter, 1927

Estelle Getty, 1923

Jack Gilford, 1907

Walter Brennan, 1894

Maxfield Parrish, 1870

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Chorus Line"(Musical), 1975

"You Can't Hurry Love"(Single release), 1966

Today in History

Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler, 285

Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops, 306

The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings, 864

Sebastián de Belalcázar, on his search for El Dorado, founds the city of Santiago de Cali, Colombia, 1536

Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, 1567

Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism, 1593

James VI of Scotland is crowned James I of England, bringing the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into personal union; political union would occur later, 1603

Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, México, 1693

British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians; thousands of Acadians are sent to the British Colonies in America, France and England, and some later move to Louisiana, while others resettle in New Brunswick, 1755

Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain), 1797

Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua, 1824

The first commercial use of an electric telegraph is successfully demonstrated by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone between Euston and Camden Town in London, 1837

The Japanese daimyo begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms, 1869

Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in Konbu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it, 1908

Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure, 1917

The first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast takes place, 1920

Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established, 1925

At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team, 1946

Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51, 1956

The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed, 1957

Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" is born, 1978

Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, which formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948, 1994

K.R. Narayanan is sworn-in as India's 10th president and the first Dalit— formerly called "untouchable"— to hold this office, 1997

Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde supersonic passenger jet, F-BTSC, crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 4 on the ground, 2000

Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first woman president, 2007

Wikileaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history, 2010

Scientists in Britain identify the mechanism causing human allergy to cats; they believe a general cure for the condition could be available in the next five years, 2013

News of a liquid lake found on Mars under its South Pole by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter is reported in the journal "Science", 2018

Asteroid 2019OK, which is large enough to be dubbed a “city killer,” passes about 45,000 miles from Earth, which is closer than the Moon, 2019

Japanese judokas Uta Abe (women's 52kg) and brother Hifumi (men's 66kg) make history as first siblings to win Olympic gold medals in different events on same day at the Tokyo Games, 2021